Swift Fox MN

[xHCxOutdoorsman]

Anyone know whether or not MN has swift fox or anyone catch any...my dad caught what looked sort of like a red fox but not the cherry red color that we have been catching i will post some pics of the critter but it is a pale orange and has a black spot on its back and black on the paws and SHORT hair NOT coarse more of a fluffy it looks very odd

does any one know what it might be i thought perhaps cross breeding but i have no idea

thanks

[fishermann222]

post a photo, I would bet it is a color variation of a red fox, and from the sounds of your description it could be a sampson's fox. Post a pic when you can.

[xHCxOutdoorsman]

I am going to post a few pics here one of a Gray Fox one RED and the other fox thing

GRAY FOX!!!

RED FOX!!!

THE OTHER FOX

[HunterLee]

That looks like a redto me. Might have the start of some mange, we got one one year that was the same grey color all over. The hair was short too. Hope they aren't getting it all over again.

[huntingmaxima]

I would have to agree with hunter, that is was my exact feeling when i saw the pics. Red w/mange.

[xHCxOutdoorsman]

well i thought maybe but it is way to consistant it is not patchy i caught a yote with mange and it was more patchy.. the other reds have the longer hair and good color without the poofy matted hair look where this has no long hair but the short hair is consistant and poor orange or red color withthe black i have no idea i am just saying it looks to consistant to be "mange"

[Huntin&Fishin]

i saw one like that in grand marais, but it was all that blacker color.

[fishermann222]

probably mange, still might be a sampson fox. Take it to the DNR and see what they say. Our fish and game bio's like to get animals like that.

[fishermann222]

Did it have any guard hairs at all? or was it just underfur?

[xHCxOutdoorsman]

no long gaurd hairs only this matted hair

[fishermann222]

I don't have that much experience with mange, but it sure sounds like a sampson's fox to me. Google it.

[fishermann222]

ok google samson fox don't put in the P, and go to the wildlife alaska gov site, good info there.

[HC Eye Hunter]

That is a Sampson fox. It's the same type of thing with mink which are called cotton mink. Both do not have guard hairs.

[leechmann]

I would say it may be mange too. Not sure. The first thing I would do is get it out of my house and away from my pets. Taking it to the DNR wwildlife office is a great idea.

Looks like you and your dad have it dialed in pretty good. Nice job, keep after those critters.

Leech

[FOXGRL]

I know this post was made months ago but thought someone may still care to know what you have there. I don't see mange in the picture, provided the dark area down the back and along the sides is heavily furred here is what I think you have.

A red fox varient called a Cross fox often in North America miscalled a Brant Fox,

Other color variants of Red Foxes are the silver fox and black or coal fox. The cross fox gets its name from the "cross" on its back, honestly terming it a "cross" is a stretch, on the pelt maybe it looks like a rough cross still stretching I think, but I didn't come up with the name. To be a Cross Fox isn't there must be a black patch basically that goes from the neck or top of the head to the tail and a second patch that runs across the top of the shoulders forming a "cross" sometimes it is way more pronounced and runs along the sides a bit also. Sometimes the other fur is very red in color sometimes its more golden in color.

A single litter of kits can have all Red Fox variants although its rare. Black foxes fall under silver in every birth rate study I have read. For every 100 kits born there will be 10 silver and 25 Cross (10% and 25%) so they are not as common as what you typically refer to as a "Red Fox". Keep in mind what is termed "Silver" ranges from deep black to almost silver white and what is termed "Cross" is anything other than the typical red fox that is red or golden in color and has any black down its back and onto the shoulders.

There is a smaller fox Vulpes alopex which is the REAL Brant Fox that is indigenous to Sweden, I have seen north american red fox varients look almost identical in marking however the Swedish Brant Fox is much smaller than its North American cousin red fox varient.

FYI Sampson foxes usually look very sleek coated and there is another anamoly where some foxes are born with NO HAIR anywhere except maybe the tip of the tail they usually don't live long because Mama Fox knows something is amiss however some survive to adulthood particularly in the south and northern South America, not so much in cold climates because they have no fur at all. They usually arent very adept hunters even in the warmer climates and raid easy pickens, trash cans etc. They get seen pretty often in Mexico and are likely the root of El Chupacabra legends.

I have seen one in the "wild" once, actually a very suburban subdivision, they are freaky looking. Their are pictures and videos scattered on the net. Here is a youtube video of a "hairless fox"

A sampson has visible fur most people think they don't.

[fishermann222]

FYI Sampson foxes usually look very sleek coated and there is another anamoly where some foxes are born with NO HAIR anywhere except maybe the tip of the tail they usually don't live long because Mama Fox knows something is amiss however some survive to adulthood particularly in the south and northern South America, not so much in cold climates because they have no fur at all. They usually arent very adept hunters even in the warmer climates and raid easy pickens, trash cans etc. They get seen pretty often in Mexico and are likely the root of El Chupacabra legends.

I have seen one in the "wild" once, actually a very suburban subdivision, they are freaky looking. Their are pictures and videos scattered on the net. Here is a youtube video of a "hairless fox"

A sampson has visible fur most people think they don't.

FoxGrl I have trapped more than a few samson fox and know a fair bit about them. a few years ago where i was living i had over a dozen samson fox which were turned into fish and game. I am also currently helping the alaska state vet work on defining a new disease from a fox population that is the perfect control group. A population of reds on an island in the Bering sea. I might get the opportunity to go out for a week to where i use to live to trap and shoot fox which appear to be infected with what might become known as a variation of "fuzzy lame fox syndrome"

It may have slight markings of a cross, but the deeper issue with this particular specimen is the fact that it has no/very little guard hair. None of us can say for sure exactly what it is, unless he turned it in to the MDNR, but my guess would still be a samson fox.

A cross fox does not have to have the "cross" on the back, but can just have substantial more black hairs also. But your right as to the origin of the name, when you skin a cross fox alot of times you get it on the stretcher and you will see a black cross on its back.

I am also going to question your numbers about your percentages of black and cross fox. That REALLY depends on location and genetics. On Nunivak i harvested over 300 fox in two years and not one cross or silver fox was taken. Here in Bethel, between about 5 of us, 3-4 hundred fox are taken a year and only 3 or 4 are cross fox, and there just arn't any silvers out here in western Alaska, its just not in the genetics. Now many areas in the interior of alaska they get alot of silvers, usually areas around old fox farms, imagine that.

sorry for my rambling.